the blue of the water; and from this mov-¡ ing and shifting and glowing picture we turned to the far and ethereal masses of the Langdale Pikes and the mountains above Ambleside, which changed as the changing clouds were blown over from the west.

We got a boat and went out into the wilderness of water and wind and sky. Now we saw the reedy shores behind us, and the clear and shallow water at the brink of which we had been standing, receiving the troubled reflection of the woods. Out here the beautiful islands of Lady Holm, Thompson's Holm, and Belle Isle were shimmering in green. Far up there in the north the slopes and gullies of the great mountains were showing a thousand hues of soft velvet-like greys and blues, and even warming up into a pale yellowish green, where a ray of the sunlight struck the lower slopes. Over by Furness Fells the clouds lay in heavier masses, and moved slowly; but elsewhere there was a brisk motion over the lake, that changed its beauties even as one looked at them.

"Mademoiselle," observed the Lieutenant, as if a new revelation had broken upon him, "all that you have said about your native country is true; and now I understand why that you did weary in London, and think very much of your own home."

Perhaps he thought, too, that there was but one county in England, or in the world, that could have produced this handsome, courageous, generous, and true- | hearted English girl-for such are the exaggerations that lovers cherish.

We put into Bowness, and went up to the Crown Hotel there. In an instantas rapidly as Alloway Kirk became dark when Tam o' Shanter called out-the whole romance of the day went clean out and was extinguished. How any of God's creatures could have come to dress themselves in such fashion, amid such scenery, our young Uhlan professed himself unable to tell; but here were men- apparently in their proper senses wearing such comicalities of jackets and resplendent knickerbockers as would have made a harlequin blush, with young ladies tarred and feathered, as it were, with staring stripes and alarming petticoats, and sailor's hats of straw. Why should the borders of a lake be provocative of these mad eccentricities? Who that has wandered about the neighbourhoods of Zürich, Lucerne and Thun, does not know the wild freaks which Englishmen (far more than English women) will permit to themselves in dress? We

should have fancied those gentlemen with the variegated knickerbockers had just come down from the Righi (by rail) if they had had Alpen-stocks and snow-spectacles with them; and, indeed, it was a matter for surprise that these familiar appurtenances were absent from the shores of Windermere.

My Lady looked at the strange people rather askance.

"My dear," says Bell, in an undertone, "they are quite harmless."

We had luncheon in a corner of the great room. Dinner was already laid; and our plain meal seemed to borrow a certain richness from that long array of coloured wine-glasses. Bell considered the sight rather pretty; but my Lady began to wonder how much crystal the servants would have broken by the time we got back to Surrey. Then we went down to the lake again, stepped into a small steamer, and stood out to sea.

It was now well on in the afternoon; and the masses of cloud that came rolling from the west and south-west, when they clung to the summits of the mountains, threw a deeper shadow on the landscape beneath. Here and there, too, as the evening wore on, and we had steamed up within sight of the small island that is called Seamew Crag, we occasionally saw one of the great heaps of cloud get melted down into a grey mist that for a few minutes blotted out the side of a mountain. Meanwhile the sun had also got well up to the north-west; and as the clouds came over and swept about the peaks of Langdale, a succession of the wildest atmospheric effects became visible. Sometimes a great gloom would overspread the whole landscape, and we began to anticipate a night of rain; then a curious saffron glow would appear behind the clouds; then a great smoke of grey would be seen to creep down the hill, and finally the sunlight would break through, shining on the retreating vapour, and on the wet sides of the hills. Once or twice a light trail of cloud passed across the lake, and threw a slight shower of rain upon us; but when we got to Ambleside, the clouds had been for the most part driven by, and the clear heavens - irradiated by a beautiful twilight-tempted us to walk back to Windermere village by the road.

You may suppose that that was a pleasant walk for those two young folks. Everything had conspired to please Bell during the day, and she was in a dangerously amiable mood. As the dusk fell, and the white water gleamed through the trees by

the margin of the lake, we walked along her marriage; and insensibly she drew the winding road without meeting a soli- near to Tita, and took her away from us, tary creature; and Queen Titania gently and left the Lieutenant and myself to follet our young friends get on ahead, so low. That young gentleman was as solthat we could only see the two dark fig-emn as though he had swallowed the ures pass underneath the dark avenues of Longer Catechism and the Westminister

tween women the least hint is quite sufficient, the night mists, shrouding to its peak the and saves a great deal of embarrassmert that sombre Bein-na-Cailiach, a far beacon to she very much liked the Lieutenant, and ad- the coaster out upon the Minch. Through mired his character, and that she was extremely the Sound of the Croulins our white sail vexed and sorry that she had been compelled to drifted, stirring the cries of the sea-birds refuse him when he made her an offer. She that fluttered about the ruddy ledges. The told me, too, that he had pressed her not to make that decision final; and that she had ad- pallor of the morn was widening beyond mitted to him that it was really against her own the hills of Applecross; the light was silwish that she had done so. But then she put vering the calm about the entrance of it to me, as she had put it to him, what she Loch Carran. Our canvas filled with a would think of herself if she went and betrayed gust that lifted the haze from the sea. Out Arthur in this way. Really, I could not see any of Tosgach, from the crests of Applecross, betrayal in the matter; and I asked her whether from Scalpa Sound from beyond Pabba it would be fair to Arthur to marry him while brown sails were running for Loch Carron. she secretly would have preferred to marry an- What could it mean? It was not the Sabother. She said she would try all in her power bath. In our wonder, the pilot told us not to marry Arthur, if only he would be recon- that the "Free sacrament" must be holdciled to her breaking with him; but then she ing about Plockton. With the wind freshimmediately added, with an earnestness that I thought very pathetic, that if she treated Ar-er, we were running through the craft, thur badly any other man might fairly expect her to treat him badly too, and if she could not satisfy herself that she had acted rightly throughout she would not marry at all. It is a great pity I cannot show the readers of these few lines Bell's photograph, or they would see the downright absurdity of such a resolve as that. To think of a girl like her not marrying is simply out of the question; but the danger at this moment was that, in one of these foolish fits of determination, she would send the Lieutenant away altogether. Then I think there might be a chance of her not marrying at all; for I am greatly mistaken if she does not care a good deal more for him than she will acknowledge.

I advised her to tell Arthur frankly how matters

stand; but she seems afraid. Under any circumstances, he will be sure to discover the truth; and then it will be far worse for him than if she made a full confession just now, and got rid of all these perplexities and entanglements, which ought not to be throwing a cloud over a young face."]

From The Sunday Magazine. "QUESTION-DAY" IN THE HIGHLANDS. I HAD been spending some weeks in the Isle of Skye, day by day enjoying the everchanging aspects of its bare but grand and impressive mountain scenery. We varied our excursions among the curiosities of the island by occasional short voyages to this point and that; but the one that has left the deepest impression on my mind was a memorable "run" to the mainland. We put to sea early, and saw the morning break under most favourable conditions. Across the windless sea came a breath with the dawn. Over Rona, over Raasay came gusts of the west wind belting the Sound with sapphire; beyond the Croulins drifted

fishing smacks, skiffs, and pulling-boats helped along by creaking oars.

The snacks were crowded with curious folks - old men wearing the hats of older generations, and old women with white caps tied down with white handkerchiefs over their grey faces; younger women in gay apparel with bonnets and trimmings and hair done in the latest fashion; young men crowding the forecastle deck, holding by shrouds and hallyards; and little boys clinging everywhere. The smacks were crowded, the skiffs were crowded; it might have been an exodus of mourning people. And in the aged faces there was a stricken shadow; in the unknown tongue a sense of sadness. Only when the low black bull was forging past the smacks did the wan faces gather life, hands were pointed and whispers passed. Canvas was squared away, foresails were boomed out, the fishermen would not willingly be passed. Young women pulled at the oars, old women were privileged to steer; and these watched our tall mainsail keenly. Smack after smack fell astern, on one brown sail we were hardly gaining. The grey-haired matron at the tiller turned to watch us; she smiled at the sharp stem ploughing up the foam. She was ready when we hauled across the smack's stern to shove the helm down and prevent us passing. Ahead lay the "Sqeirs" of Loch Carron with the sea lipping all about them. The smack left us no passage to leeward; the matron was watchful that we should not pass at all. Our pilot was wroth; we laughed over the humour of the worshippers. Off the vil lage of Plockton we anchored among a fleet of boats from Kishoru, from Jeantown, from Loch Alsh. The haven was girt with striking shores, mountain walls and grey crag; the hills of Loch Carron,

dresses were disturbing to the sombre greyness of the picture. Above the crest of the corrie young boys clambered, grave fellows in their ragged clothing.

66

We found now that it was Questionday" - one of the several consecutive days, during which service is held, in these parts, by way of preparation for the cominunion.

grizzly with moraines and wasted preci- oured to cover the lower part of their pices. Brushwood swept the beach; black faces as their mothers did. It somehow pines covered the flanks of the hills. gave an earnest look to these simple worRocky isles were scattered treacherously shippers. The younger women home from about; we had been the better for our pi- the south avoided the custom; their gayer lot in the smack. The red sunlight was striking the great corries of Bein Gorm, and deepening the azure belts across the face of the mountains of Kishorn. About these shores the glitter of the deep marked hidden dangers. On wintry nights the mouth of Loch Carron is full of treachery. The fishing craft were run alongside a half-ebbed isle over which the strangers clambered. Through the village of Plockton they walked, a sober throng, towards the moorland. There was no want of sedateness; the faces might have been those of pilgrims nearing their shrine. We were not among idle worshippers summoned by chimes, by the solitary peal of the kirkbell. Eyes were hardly raised from the roadway, greetings were tenderly given, silently spoken, subdued by humble reverence. Everywhere among the aged a sense of awe was deepening.

While the worshippers were hidden in the moorland sanctuary, the crags about them commanded all the mountains of Carron and Kishorn, the Sound, Scalpa, and Raasay, with its curious "Dun," the mighty peaks of Glencaig, and the nearer Coolins. In the hollow were gathered penitent folks, mourning with the outer signs of tribulation; all about them the glow of the summertide was softening the hills and falling upon the sea. There were no ecclesiastical accessories, no sacerdotal adornments; but the solemness was supreme.

The people were turning aside from the road to Durinish; they were disappearing The silence so impressive was broken; through a cleft in the rocks. We clam- one of the clergymen rose, and spoke in bered with others over crags, past an aged Gaelic in an undertone, the only language man standing beside a little box which was used. His words were spoken to an elder set upon a short staff, and into which cop- of the people. who rose, after a pause, and pers were thrown. We reached the edge said some inaudible words. He had been of the corrie, a gully in the rocky bluff. asked to speak, but excused himself. We were suddenly in the presence of three Another elder was appealed to; he also thousand people, more or less a vast had some excuse. Others were spoken to; congregation filling all the hollow and but all declined, although they had previclustering about its sides. Our amaze- ously agreed to speak and expound certain ment pleased the bystanders; the young points in proof of their ableness to minispeople looked up at us; the old folks sat ter to the spiritual wants of some remote silent and motionless. No service was go- clachan. The fashion, or formality, preing on; but faint whispers were reproved vailed of declining to speak at the first call; with sudden looks. In the narrower end it might seem ostentatious to do so, and of the hollow stood an upright wooden- the men were as coy as maidens. On the house, somewhat like a bathing-box, half second request being made, the elder who open on the side next the congregation. had been first asked, had so far recovered In it were accommodated the officiating as to speak with composure. He had a clergymen. The congregation waited very solemn and "punctual way of uttering silently while the later-comers found seats his advices. His plaid fell back from his in the grassy hollow or upon the rocky arm, his measured speech sounded about ledges. The old folks sat nearer the cler- the hollow, blown by fitful airs, and strikgymen, the old men with their bald ing attentive ears. There was nothing in

heads uncovered, the old women with white handkerchiefs tied over their white caps. Plaids and overcoats were drawn over the men's heads at times; the women drew plaids and shawls over their caps. The matrons held a corner of their plaids over their mouths; shrouding their faces to the eyes through some decorous fashion or ancient usage. The little maidens lifted the corners of their pinafores, and endeav

his sonorous voice to recall the broken speech of the Celt when he leaves the hills. Others of the elders spoke, and without further hesitation. There were no painful pauses in their speech; the speakers might have had the ready utterance of gifted tongues. Their language, unchanged for centuries, was the same spoken by the first Christian teachers on their coasts. Our pilot told us that the Gospels had an “auld